Larry and Stan Stauffer run a thriving business.
Stan Stauffer, left, and his brother, Larry, roll out drawings of one of the log homes they designed.
That alone hardly set these brothers apart, but they also share something that makes their situation more than a little unusual.
Both have been disabled almost since birth with a genetic neuromuscular disease and rely on electric wheelchairs.
Partners in Larry's Home Designs, the Stauffers have never viewed their handicap as a deterrent. They're thankful for their success, but don't see their accomplishment as anything out of the ordinary.
Ability, not disabilityThe company designs frame houses as well as rustic log homes similar to the one where they have their office. Larry is chief designer, while Stan handles customer relations and does some designing, too.
They grew up in Lancaster County, with Larry graduating from Conestoga Valley High School and Stan from Ephrata High School. Both are alumni of Brownstown Vo-Tech, where Larry studied architectural design and Stan mechanical design.
After graduation, Larry worked with an architectural firm in Ephrata and then Garman Builders, and Stan designed generator base tanks for a company in Denver.
When their parents moved to Ohio in 1993, the brothers moved with them.
Larry started doing freelance work for the construction business his father and one older brother owned, he said, and that blossomed into Larry's Home Designs.
Soon "I needed help," Larry said, and Stan came on board.
The two of them moved back to Lancaster County in 2002.
Larry, 37, and Stan, 32, have spinal muscular atrophy. It's a disorder that's the No. 1 genetic killer of children under age 2, according to the Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Web site.
SMA destroys the nerves controlling voluntary muscle movement, which affects crawling, walking, head and neck control, and even swallowing.
Approximately one in 6,000 babies is affected, and about one in 40 people is a genetic carrier, the Web site states.
The Stauffers have SMA type II, which affects infants between the ages of 7 and 18 months. Type II patients are at increased risk for complications from respiratory infections, according to the Web site.
Larry and Stan have two older brothers without SMA, but five of their cousins were also diagnosed with it, Larry said.
Both follow exercise routines to help them stay in the best shape possible. And they depend on a higher power for support.
"We pray a lot," Larry said.
They also use the services of caregivers, in addition to family.
Larry lives in Ephrata with his wife, Carolee, and their 12-year-old daughter, Angel. Stan lives in Brecknock Township, in a log house where their business has its office.
Swamped with businessLarry's Home Designs has clients as far west as Montana, as far north as Nova Scotia and as far south as Florida. Many people find out about the business through its Web site,
larryshomedesigns.com, Larry said.
Local customers include Denlinger-Fisher Builders, Paradise; Wooden Indian Log Home Co., Reinholds; Creekview Builders, Lititz; and Brecknock Builders LLC, Denver.
Outside the area, Crockett Log & Timber Homes, with offices in multiple states, is a major client, he said.
Though national and local housing markets continue to slide, the Stauffers said they're swamped.
"We've been blessed," Stan said.
Marvin Fisher, co-owner of Denlinger-Fisher Builders, said his company constructs log and conventional houses, and he likes the fact that Larry's Home Designs handles both.
Denlinger-Fisher, which builds three to four homes a year, uses the Stauffers for all its designs, Fisher said.
Both brothers use computers with half-size keyboards — an accommodation for their disability — and have technology that allows them to type e-mails and newsletters by speaking, Stan said.
To do his job, Larry said, he uses a new three-dimensional computer-aided design, or CAD, system.
When first-time customers call him on the phone, Larry said, he doesn't tell them he's disabled. When they initially meet, he said, there are three kinds of responses.
Some people will act naturally and "never skip a beat," Larry said. Others will wrinkle their eyebrows a bit, he said, when they see him in a wheelchair. And a third group will "turn red in the face and stammer" before getting used to his disability, Larry said.
He said he's never built a home specifically for someone with a physical handicap, but when customers see him in his wheelchair it gets them thinking.
Sometimes they end up adding wider doorways and other accessible features to the design in case they (or a family member) need them down the road, Larry said.
A focus on service
The brothers also believe in service.
Stan said he views his partnership in the business "as a stepping stone" to a possible political or civil service career.
He's signed up for online courses part time through Patrick Henry College in Virginia, an institution that trains Christian leaders, he said. His income from Larry's Home Designs has allowed him to do that, Stan said.
Larry also is taking courses in biblical counseling through his church, Mount Zion Baptist in Denver. Stan is a member of Cornerstone Bible Church in Denver and is a peer mentor with the independent living organization Abilities In Motion in Reading.
"What this world needs is a lot more motivation," Larry said.
They'd like to show others with disabilities that their handicaps "don't define who you are," Stan said.
"Life is short," he said. "but I think there's so much to be done."
Paula Wolf is a staff writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached by e-mail at pwolf@lnpnews.com.
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